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About SRTEP

Create your own tourism business

About SRTEP

British Council Creative Spark Higher Education Enterprise Programme. Promoting tourism entrepreneurship in partnership with the University of Greenwich and Azerbaijan State University of Economics.

Silk Road Tourism Enterprise Programme (SRTEP) aims to facilitate development of micro, small and medium tourism businesses (MSMTB) in creative and cultural tourism to create jobs by providing enterprise training to the youth and women of Azerbaijan. 

SRTEP will assist entrepreneurship development programmes to enable youth and women to set up their own MSMTBs.

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Silk Roads

The Silk Roads, the most famous trade routes in history, may play a different role today than they did centuries ago, but their magnitude and mythical characteristics did not change. Trade always has been one of the main reasons the Silk Roads are essential in several countries along the passageway from East to West. Furthermore, many people follow Marco Polo’s example and travel for cultural and knowledge exchanges. However, today’s tourists do not need 24 years to travel across Asia and do not have to face the dangers the 13th century travellers wrote about, and can still experience the atmosphere, cultures, and traditions along the Silk Roads in whichever country they chose (Silk Road Foundation, 2000).

With the One Belt One Road initiative of China, the UNESCO’s Silk Roads Online Platform and the Silk Road Project of the United Nations World Travel Organisation, many countries along the Silk Roads realised the potentials of tourism focusing on the cities and destinations along the roads (UNWTO, n.d.; UNESCO a, n.d.).

With the rising popularity of cultural tourism and need for memorable experiences (Petroman, Petroman, Marin, Ciolac, Vaduva and Pandur, 2013) it is not surprising that visitors from all around the world and especially from the West started to set their eyes on the unique countries along the Silk Roads. In 2019, the visitor numbers in Azerbaijan increased by 11.4% to 3.1 million, compared to 2018. It was expected to grow more, but it is unknown now how the current situation with the COVID-19 will affect the numbers till the pandemic ends (Guha, 2020). However, the opportunities for Azerbaijan to develop their Silk Roads tourism are undoubtedly there.

Silk Roads Today

The Silk Roads today are rich with tangible and intangible cultural heritage legacies. Monuments, like the caravanserais, crafts and specific cities still carry the history and culture of centuries. Countries along the Silk Roads possess many distinct but interconnected cultures, languages, customs, and religions developed over millennia. However, the trading aspect of these historical roads is not just a thing in the past. While several countries are building tourism around the legacies of it, the Silk Roads are also expected to fulfil their original role, and it shows in recent developments, like the One Belt, One Road initiative.

aerial photography of desert field
woman in white long sleeve shirt riding white horse on green grass field during daytime

Tourism in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, officially called the Azerbaijani Republic is a country in eastern Transcaucasia. The name translates to the ´Land of Fire´ referring to the surface fires occurring at specific regions, caused by the ancient oil pools or the natural gas discharges. Azerbaijan shares borders with Russia, Iran, Armenia, Georgia and bordered by the Caspian Sea. The exclave of Nakhichevan is surrounded by Armenia, Iran and Turkey.

Azerbaijan, one of the countries along the Silk Roads, is said to be offering a blend of traditions and modern development. While more than half of the population lives in big cities, several of the rural regions kept their traditions and lifestyle even when they were influenced by modernization and industrialization. Apart from its beautiful terrain, Azerbaijan is also famous about its horses and caviar as distinctive exports of the country.

Azerbaijan Opportunities

Just like other Silk Road countries, Azerbaijan often uses the historical routes as tourism resources. They are building the destination image around it and utilising it as a promotional material.

Since land and sea routes linked Azerbaijan with China, Syria, India, Asia Minor, Iran, Egypt, Russia, the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, and Europe for centuries now, the importance of the cities along the roads is unquestionable (UNESCO b, n.d.).

Several tourism companies in the world organise tours focusing on the countries along the Silk Road, and specific cities. In Azerbaijan, the most prominent Silk Road cities, when it comes to tangible and intangible cultural or natural tourism resources are: Sheki, Gabala, Shamakhi, Lahij, Baskal, Shusha, Lankaran and of course, Baku.

Leading towards North-West from Baku, these are Shamakhi, Baksal, Lahij, Gabala or Gebele, and Sheki. Their relative closeness makes them a popular package tour, with several tour operators combining and selling them in different themes (TripAdvisor, 2019; Azerbaijan Tourism, 2020; Silk Way Travel, 2020). However, each location has its own unique features and tourism resources paving way for great tourism business opportunities.

high rise building during night time

Silk Road Tourism Enterprise Programme.

Empowering the Youth and Women of Azerbaijan through Enterprise training

Create your own tourism business.

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